“I’ll take them,” Wyatt told her. He figured once Diesel heard what he had to say, their discussion might well last much longer than five minutes.
Wyatt sat uncomfortably and rather fidgety in the chair across from Nova Greene’s desk.
“Do you want a coffee or water or anything?” Nova asked. Wyatt could tell she didn’t really want to get up and get anything for him. He understood. He wasn’t a morning person, either. No matter how much he needed caffeine, he could wait. He did not want to risk getting on the bad side of Diesel’s executive assistant.
“Oh, thank you, no. I’m fine, really,” he said.
Nova’s gaze narrowed, as if she couldn’t believe he would turn down coffee, and he wondered at his own idiocy. Hedidwant some. To his relief, Diesel strode in, saving Wyatt from having to discuss any refreshments with Nova Greene.
“Morning,” Diesel said.
Wyatt stood up like somebody had jabbed him in the butt with an extra sharp hat pin. “Hi, Diesel. Thanks for fitting me into your morning.”
“Sure thing. Follow me.”
Wyatt did as he was told.
“Valene and the kids, okay?” the Fearless Leader asked casually, as if that might be why Wyatt was here.
“Yes. Really great. I’m a lucky man.” Wyatt’s unease lifted at the mental picture of his wife and kids, happily at home. He truly was a lucky man, and he knew it.
Once behind the closed door of Diesel’s office, Wyatt let his unease flow at will. “I understand you only have five minutes. Fair warning—I think you should plan on more,” Wyatt said.
Diesel sat in the big chair behind his desk and gestured for his brother-in-law to take a seat. “Noted. Tell me.”
Wyatt tried his best to tell a concise and unflowery account of what had happened the night before, from the point dispatch had alerted him that Beryl and Jett had seen Jake Jones snatched off the street.
“None of the doctors at the hospital could figure out why Jake was unconscious in the first place. Or why removing that wire woke him up.”
Wyatt, patting his chest pocket where the evidence bag currently resided, assured Diesel that he had that wire for someone in the basement to test. “I brought it with me. I didn’t know where else would be safe except on my person.”
“Good thinking,” Diesel said. “That is quite a story. Who else knows about the invisible being?”
“Me, Beryl and Jett. So far as I know.”
“What about Jake?”
“Luckily, he doesn’t remember anything except being snatched off the street and shoved in a trunk. I was worried about Sheriff Hollister for a while there. I ran in because I’m pretty sure I heard him scream. When I went to see Hollister at the hospital, he was still pretty out of it. His chest was burned by the bodycam when it got fried, which is the one bright spot—any recording was destroyed. Hollister doesn’t remember anything that happened after he parked his cruiser outside the barn. He says he thinks he must have been jumped from behind, though it’s more likely our bad guy zapped him.”
“Hollister didn’t have a wire attached to him, right?”
Wyatt shook his head. “Not that I saw, and I can’t imagine there would’ve been time for that being to remove one before I heard the scream and ran in.” He shrugged, because he didn’t actually know the abilities of the invisible entity. “Which I realize sounds stupid or crazy or both.”
Diesel looked stunned, for lack of a better word. He pushed a button on the phone console next to his right hand. “Nova, I need you to cancel all my appointments this morning, maybe all day.”
“I really don’t think you want to do that, Diesel,” she said.
“Well, it turns out that it doesn’t matter what I want today. Please convey my apologies to anyone who gets riled up,” Diesel said, and pushed out a long sigh. “For now, just cancel the ones this morning. I’ll let you know about the afternoon later.”
Nova signed off with, “Okey-dokey, Smokey.”
“Sorry to ruin your day,” Wyatt said.
“That’s okay,” Diesel said. “It’s not your fault. I appreciate all that you did to keep things quiet.”
“One more thing: Sam Brody was one of the Old Coot deputies who responded to the scene. However, I didn’t tell him anything.”
“Good thinking, Wyatt. The fewer people who know about this, the better, even if they are Alphas.” He stood up. “Let’s take your evidence to Gage and see if he can figure out what it is.”
